30 September 2006

Dont fall asleep in an airport

Kim and Nicky really spoiled me over the summer in Hong Kong, taking me out for meals, drinks, the Black Eyed Peas concert... and much more. Thanks guys you paid for too much and were really great to me. That combined with the money I'd won in Miami and working for KPMG I was able to go to Oz. Stayed with Brendan in Melbourne and then Davo in Sydney. Both really cool places. Was amazing to see Brendan and all the Aussies from the Holiday Inn (1st semester in Miami) Dave, Alex, Susie, american Kate, Alanna, Tidy, Bec guys it was great to see you all. Get your arses out to Scotland (during summer!) Alanna... lookin forward to seein you in December but man you're probabaly gonna freeze your tits off!! Unfortunately I didnt get to see everyone, most notably the drunken legend that is Brett Murray, or Tim Wilder shit party Laison. Or Rach..... god theres just to many Aussies. Unfortunately there just wasnt enough time money, or planning! It was all last minute scramling....

Had an amazing time. Dave's house is incredible, rooftop patio with view of one of the bays. I stayed in the pool house no less! The weather was pretty chilly when i first got to Oz tho ive become a bit of a poof after gettin used to Florida and King Kong weather so it probably wasnt that cold. Ill put up more pics of Sydney soon.
















the whole trip was amazin well until i fell asleep at the gate in Melbourne airport and missed my fucking flight.... i was raging... i actually changed the name on my passport to Raymond Jing.... Id got to the gate at 6am for a 7am flight now bearing in mind this was after a monumental night in Melbourne, much drinking and dancing, then a taxi most of the way home, the last leg of the journey by shopping trolley. This was made worse by the fact this night out came straight after a flight from sydney after a very messy night and only 4 hours sleep . I was knackered but I made it to the airport, i knew i would, i made it to the gate! i knew I would. But after sitting for 20 minutes in a seating are empty bar me and a Rabbi doing a ritual beside me ( i thought it was the alcohol but he was a real Rabbi) ... the next thing i knew i was woken up by staff asking who i was and saying "you've missed your flight" and pointing at the Cathay Pacific plane pushing back from the stand.... Thanks for tellin me! Wouldve kicked up a fuss right there but my brain was asleep and I was more concerned that I was gonna miss my BA flight i had booked from Hong Kong to London later that day.

SO...Had to be escorted back out through security and moved onto the next flight. I was absolutely shattered but had to stay awake and wait for 4 hours just so I could CHECK IN AGAIN! I must've looked fuckin dodgy, on top of drinking litres and litres of coffee I had to keep getting up and wandering around and around just to stay awake. the hours seemed to pass at a speed so slow even a dead slug could outrun the minute hand. went through all the security AGAIN ..Hi there... yep me again... no i havent got someone else to re-pack my bags in the meantime... no i havent left them unattended ..well apart from between when they were put on the plane and when they took them back off the plane so it could leave...

Managed to stay awake and got back to the bloody gate where i'd been that morning, to sit there for another three an a half hours. i had to use my credit card to buy a wee radio cause i was actually going insane

HK to Oz

From the top deck of a Hong Kong tram. Bank of China building with one of the weird but cool looking Lippo buildings.















A park near the Melbourne city centre


































Collingwood vs Bulldogs at the MCG, first round of the Aussie rules finals
















Two young pilgrims perform the Haj after reaching Ramsey Street, the Mecca of television
















Stevie (only an hour after getting into Melbourne from Sydney, on what would prove to be the greatest day of our lives) and Brendan at Susan Kennedy's house.
















A bit of tennis ball cricket in Ramsey street, though after a while some guy came out of Harold Bishop's house and told us to go play somewhere else. Nob
















That night we went to the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, home of the Neighbours night!
















Toady, the man, the legend!!!!
What a guy..
We look like hobbits compared to the 8 foot tall girl in the background or maybe she's standing on a chair
















Max Hoyland. When it was announced that Max was coming I had planned to ask him why no matter what day or what he's doing, his character always wears crap short sleave shirts, but he came out wearing a crap short sleave shirt so I decided not to ask that. Instead i quizzed him on whether it was hard not to fancy Izzy even tho she's his sister. He said she's a babe so its hard, in fact i quote "she's really is a spunk"
















I didnt even know who Janay Timmons was cause I havent really seen Neighbours this last year but Kirky was mega excited to meet the girl who will marry his hero, Boyd.













Random but there were 3 Irish girls there that'd been sitting behind Kirky on his flight that morning. They were a great laugh
















By the time the stars left we were absolutely hammered an spent a lot of time dancing like absolute fanjeetas.













I think there was a couple of Dutch people but apart from that the place was full of people from Britain or Ireland
















Poor girl
















Now I am very blessed as my testicles are really great performers. They go inside when its cold, they hang out when its warm, I can really rely on them to know what to do no matter the situation I find myself in. Saw this sign and was quite surprised to find these sheer instinct balls in a 15 pack and so cheap.















We took a trip down the Great Ocean Road which was amazing, we got a perfect day for it too. Brendan's sister Bron was really kind and drove us the whole day.





















Steven Kirk.... What can you say? He almost chundered when the road got quite twisty, and also entertained us on the trip by regaling us with tails of how his Grandfather was a farmer and apparently used to bite the balls off his sheep to neuter them. His grandfather had said (probably when he got caught molesting a male sheep) that if he cut them off, the animals would keep bleeding so he had to bite them off…. yeah Steve…right ok. Stevie also made great calls along the way like “The horizon is a lot further away today”
















One of the many gorgeous beaches along the way





















A seal that was just sittin bathing in the sunset. He didn't seem to mind all the people that'd stop to look at him. People were almost crashing into parked cars as the slowed down to see what everyone was lookin at. One guy we tried to help had just pulled over to the first place that he could, not realisin the tarmac stopped suddenly. When they went to drive off he found his wheels had totally sunk into the mud, he had to call a tow truck to pull it out!
















We got to the 12 apostles (they're massive rock stacks out from the cliff coastline) and it was already dark though it was slightly lighter than this. Was kind cool to see them looming out of darkness with sound of waves crashing against them

Really weird but with a 60 second shutter, i managed to take this photo. Amazing how it picks up all the light that we cant see. The sky has colour, and the sand and waves too.

07 September 2006

Walk abooty Hong Kongy
















Kim and Nicky on the start of the walk. Stage 5 or something of the Maclehose Trail.






















I cant remember what this peak was called but lets just call it Wing Fuk Ping summit. It was a beautiful day and not too humid for once. Took us about 5 hours to walk the section, through trees and out along the ridges back towards Kowloon. The trail twisted away so we never made it to the top of Wing Fuk Ping















Maclekimbumnickybumhose Trail




















Looking down over Pong Kee Poo





















Kim looking awkward after i gave her a loving peck on the cheek




















The trail which was first walked by the famous Hong Kong explorers Ming In Soks and Ho Ching Lee Swetty